The Wand Witch
by Impossible Cauldronite
Summary: There's a guest at Cackle's and Miss Hardbroom has her reservations...but will they prove to be justified? Reviews very much appreciated.
1. Chapter 1-I simply do not see the point

_**AN: **I'll get on with my other fic in a minute, I swear... No idea where this one has come from but it is taking up mind-space so I'm getting it out quickly, but hopefully it is still somewhat good! Let me know, though :)_

* * *

"I simply do not see the point"

Constance Hardbroom crossed her arms in a mixture of annoyance and stubbornness. She was tired of the semi-constant stream of schemes to teach the girls some new-fangled way - whatever was wrong with the perhaps old-fashioned, but downright effective spells and potions classes?

"Well, I think it's a great idea, Miss Cackle", said Miss Drill, inadvertently adding yet another point of disagreement between herself and the potions mistress, "It'll be a well-deserved break from routine and I think the girls will be excited to learn about magic from a different perspective. Not to mention how useful-"

"Useful? How exactly is disruption useful?" Miss Hardbroom snapped, "What can this defensive magic woman teach in a couple of days that is in any way more useful than the structured teaching of potions and spells?

"She's a highly qualified teacher, Constance," Miss Cackle argued, "And I agree with what Imogen said about perspective. She's a different kind of witch, with different experiences, and I think that that could be very inspirational to some of our girls...especially some who seem to have lost their passion for our traditional lessons recently!"

They all had the same students in mind at this moment, and Constance soon accepted that the Headmistress was not going to be persuaded to change her mind. Resigned to the fact that there was nothing left to say, she began to gather the books she had been marking into a neat pile.

"Oh, and Constance," Miss Cackle added, "We'll have an extra fourth year this week too, because she's bringing her niece."

She simply sighed, knowing that whatever opposition she had to this, it was going to happen.

"When are they going to be arriving?" asked Miss Drill, perhaps hoping to reduce the silent tension still present in the room.

"Six o'clock today," Miss Cackle replied, glancing around at the clock behind her.

"Well, it's five past six, already!" Miss Hardbroom could help but point out scathingly, "Such an excellent first impr-."

She was interrupted by a timid knock on the staff room door, which Miss Cackle proceeded to open, shooting a quick 'be quiet, now' glare in her direction on the way.

"Ah, thankyou, Mildred," she said, standing in the way of the other teachers trying to see who was there, "You may go now...and would you two like to come in? I'm Amelia Cackle, Headmistress."

"Helenna Rookwood," said the unfamiliar witch as she entered the room, "Two 'N's; four 'O's. Any my niece, Layla."

As she shook hands with the Headmistress, Constance surveyed her appearance. She was decidedly average. Average-sounding voice; about average height and weight for a witch who doesn't eat too many cakes; average black clothing for a witch; average old broomstick; average bowny-coloured, neatly-tied-in-a-low-bun hair. There was only one thing in particular that stood out to Constance, and that was the chill-inspiring piece of wood protruding from the back of the witch's bun.

The only thing worse than noticing that sight was noticing that the young girl also had one sticking out of her right boot.

Constance said very little during the brief exchange of pleasantries before the gym mistress was assigned to show the guests where to put their belongings.

As they left the room she turned slowly to face Miss Cackle, paying close attention to making herself appear completely calm despite the intense mixture of feelings she was unwillingly experiencing.

"You never said a thing about them being wand-witches..."


	2. Chapter 2-I still do not see the point

_**AN:**__ I'm baaack! Bit of an involuntary hiatus - after my old laptop died a slow and painful death (very helpfully towards the end of exam season, ugh!) and then I had to write a feature for my department's blog, and then poetry for a contest, and then reading for a research proposal that still isn't finished...ANYway, on with the story!_

* * *

"I still do not see the point, Miss Drill," Constance sighed, "And I do not think it wise of you to ask if she wants to play a game of tennis! She is a witch, after all."

Miss Drill let out a slight sniff of amusement, pausing in the middle of the corridor as she sensed that the witch was about to sweep off in a different direction.

"I said that as a joke, Miss Hardbroom!" she replied, "Besides, it will be fine. We've had guest teachers before and survived unscathed, haven't we? Miss Lamplighter, for instance, and Mr Helliboring,"

"_Chief Wizard Hellibore_," Miss Hardbroom corrected, "I wouldn't say that either of those visits were exactly incident-free, would you? And besides, they weren't -"

She stopped mid-sentence, distracted by the sound of a young witch emerging from the bottom of the stairs, and unsure about whether she wanted to finish that sentence anyway. She needn't have looked to identify the girl, for she knew that it was still slightly too early to be up and ready for any student who had grown accustomed to the comfort of Cackle's Academy beds.

"Layla Rookwood," she stated loudly as the girl began to approach the pair of teachers. Her eyes settled on the girl's hand as she was twirling her wand like some sort of fancy baton as she walked. "May I remind you," she continued calmly, "That this is _not_ a wand witch academy, nor is it acceptable for you to act like it is. I am sure your aunt will have already made it clear that you are to use only non-wand magic whilst you are here."

"Of course, Miss - um - " Layla faltered, not having paid too much attention to the teachers' names the previous evening.

"Miss Hardbroom," Constance interjected with a hint of irritability.

"Sorry, Miss Hardbroom," she said, stowing the wand safely - but not safely enough, in Constance's opinion - back into her right boot.

"Breakfast is that way," the potions mistress indicated the way toward the hall, and Layla scurried off in a manner that didn't quite seem to suit someone who had just had their first encounter with the formidable Constance Hardbroom.

* * *

"Defensive magic is possibly the least pointless branch of magic!" Helenna Rookwood seemed to have found herself in an almost-argument with the deputy headmistress before she had even finished her breakfast. "You said yourself that modern witchcraft is a serious professional business, and as far as I'm concerned, as long as there are things to defend from, then defensive magic is a serious, professional branch of witchcraft!"

"I appreciate your argument for defensive magic, Miss Rookwood, but I don't think that young and inexperienced witches should be exposed to certain aspects of magic, at least not until they are ready"

Helenna seemed to harbour a confused expression for a moment, and Constance felt frustrated at the prospect of having to spell out to a stranger exactly what it was that she was unhappy about.

"Constance doesn't like the idea of wand magic" said Miss Crotchet in a rather audible and theatrical whisper, earning her a rather harsh glare from her colleague.

"Concentrated magic," Helenna replied, shrugging slightly, "That's all"

"Not only is it potentially more dangerous than ordinary magic," Constance said impatiently, "But surely young witches should be taught to use their powers effectively without the aid of such...contraptions"

"Contraptions!" Helenna snorted, "This isn't like those wizard stories or whatever, you're still a witch if you drop your stick! It might feel different but wand magic is just a...concentrated form of magic directly from its wielder. It's incredibly responsive, which is an obvious advantage for defensive magic..."

"Is it any easier to cast with a wand then?" Miss Crotchet asked, a look of interest now clearly apparent in her features.

Constance directed another slightly disapproving expression towards her colleague for directing the conversation away from her main point of concern.

"It's easier to cast an _instinctive_ spell, I suppose," Helenna continued, "which is why wands are notoriously branded as defensive weapons. But it does come at the price of an increased likelihood of accidental magic. It takes a lot of training for a wand-witch pairing to work effectively, which is why there are wand-witch schools. The wand learns from the witch and the witch learns from the wand. Sort of...spell memory. Seriously, though, it's like you've never met a wand witch before!"

"Well, we haven't. Well," Miss Crotchet corrected herself, "_I_ haven't. Have you, Constance?"

Constance hesitated for a moment before replying.

"One of my teachers had a wand," she said quietly, almost regretting the admission as soon as the words reached the air, "but only for special occasions"

"So, wands are alright for just now and then?" Helenna joked, somewhat misinterpreting Constance's definition of 'special', although Constance felt deeply relieved about that particular misinterpretation, "Well I like my wand magic, it feels comfortable for me for day to day things...but Miss Hardbroom, you already know that I've agreed to teach your students without wand magic, and I will stick to that promise."

* * *

_**AN: **I just need you all to understand the difficulty I had in typing the word "contraptions"...and "occasions"...oh dear haha :P_

_Anyway, thanks for reading, please do review as this story seems a lot more difficult to write out than I originally thought it would be!_

_Love-potions, cookies, adorable puppies, and all that :-)_


	3. Chapter 3-I really don't see the point

"I really don't see the point," said Enid, as she and her friends joined the rest of their class in the corridor after breakfast, "If it's half term at your school, _why on earth_ would you want to spend it going to another school?"

Layla just laughed and shrugged, absent-mindedly tapping her wand between the wall she was leaning on and the side of her leg whilst they began to wait there.

"I always spend half terms with my aunt," she replied, "She's teaching here this week, so here I am!"

"Dismal." Enid shook her head, "Glad I'm not you then."

"I don't mind," Layla responded cheerfully, "It's a change of scenery at least, and I get to meet new people and that. It's actually quite fun a lot of the time."

"Do you mean you always go to different schools with your aunt?" asked Maud disbelievingly.

"Not always...but often enough," she replied, "I don't think we've ever been to a school quite like this before, though."

"No..." said Mildred, looking amused, "There's no school quite like Cackle's..."

"Quite right, Mildred Hubble!" came the voice of Miss Hardbroom as she appeared from the direction of the staff room, followed by the other visitor Mildred had welcomed last night. "I'm glad to see that you are making friends, girls," she added whilst her eyes scanned the whole class for any sign of disorder.

She glanced swiftly at the witch standing by her shoulder and said, "All yours then, Miss Rookwood. Let me know if there are any...problems."

With that, she turned to leave her class with Helenna, who simply nodded in thanks to the deputy, before beckoning the students to follow her. But something had caught Constance's eye, and it wasn't any of the usual suspects.

"Hurry along then, Mildred!" she said somewhat impatiently, while holding up the student behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked the girl.

"Aunt Helenna told me that Miss Cackle said I should join in with this class," Layla explained.

"That isn't what I meant," Constance replied icily, her gaze dropping momentarily to the thing she was _really_ keeping an eye on.

Layla followed her eye line and noticed that she had still been tapping away the whole time. She stopped moving her wand hand and slowly returned her gaze to meet that of the teacher.

"Ah."

"Put it away, immediately." Constance commanded, "I've already told you once this morning, that I don't expect-"

"I'm sorry, Miss Hardbroom," Layla interrupted her while putting the wand yet again back into her right boot. Constance felt a wave of outrage that the girl had such nerve. Caught in between continuing her previous sentence and scolding the girl for interrupting her and answering back, she found herself oddly unable to speak at all.

"It's just a force of habit, you understand," Layla continued, seemingly oblivious to Constance's irritation, "I'm not deliberately going against what you said, I swear. I'm a wand witch by nature but this is your school, and even though I wasn't using it for magic, I apologise for my mistake."

Constance had rarely heard such a justification, especially not for what would probably be considered a rather small violation of the rules. She glared at the girl for a moment, perhaps trying to organise in her own mind whether she was genuine, or whether she just had a certain way with words.

Suddenly aware that time was moving along, she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, not sure whether she could get away with giving lines to a student that didn't officially attend her school after all.

"I don't want to see it in your hand again," she finally said, firmly and somewhat more calmly than she actually felt, "Hurry up and go to class now."

Layla nodded, with a dutiful, "Yes, Miss," before heading off through the door where the others had gone.

Her aunt had arranged chairs without desks in a sort of semi-circle, and she took the remaining space between Mildred and a girl whose name she was fairly sure was Ruby.

"What did HB want with you?" Mildred whispered as she took her seat.

"Nothing important," she replied equally quietly.

* * *

**_AN: _**_Omg, yay, a really quick update!_

_Thank you so much to all who have left reviews and comments so far, it's a great motivator and I look forward to seeing what you think to this chapter too!_

_Next one shouldn't be too long a wait... :D_


	4. Chapter 4-The point

"The point of this lesson," Miss Rookwood was saying as Layla took her seat, "is, I suppose, to enable each of you to see that there are different ways to think about magic, and indeed to do magic. I have, here, some chess pieces for some practical magic later."

She picked up a small box that she had placed on the floor earlier, and spotted a student raising their hand.

"What's your name?" she enquired, wondering what on earth the girl could possibly have a question about.

"Ethel Hallow," she replied, "Would you like me to hand them out, Miss Rookwood?"

"No thank you," the teacher replied, before she clicked her fingers, magicking the figures to appear on each student's lap, "and you should know that you will not get into my 'good books' by doing me unnecessary favours. I am only interested in your magical knowledge and skills. If I may continue, usually, I teach defensive magic. So...who can tell me what the point of defensive magic is? When might you use defensive magic?"

For a moment the room stayed silent, and since Ethel's usually-eager attitude was somewhat taken aback, it was Mildred who had the courage to answer first.

"If a bad witch tried to turn you into a frog, perhaps, Miss?"

"Fairly good example, Mildred, isn't it? There are indeed bad witches in the world, as many of you no doubt know by now. Defensive magic is imperative if one was indeed trying to curse you!" Mildred looked pleased with herself as Helenna spoke, "So let's continue with Mildred's example. If a bad witch was about to turn you into a frog, what might you do to defend yourself?"

"Somehow deflect the spell, Miss?" Maud suggested timidly.

"Great idea. Yes, you could deflect the spell with, say, a deflection spell, which I may teach you later in the week. But what about if the bad witch hasn't cast the spell yet? How might you make sure she doesn't cast a spell on you in the first place?"

"Run away, Miss?" Jadu suggested.

Miss Rookwood chuckled involuntarily before replying, "Well, I guess that could work sometimes, but it's not something that I would recommend. Anyone know why?"

Again, silence swept the room as the girls wondered why escaping might be a bad choice. This time Layla decided to chip in and said, "She'd probably curse you while you weren't looking"

Miss Rookwood nodded with a smile, "I'd say that when running away, you would be facing away from the witch, leaving yourself extremely vulnerable to getting cursed. It seems like common sense, but a fundamental issue in defensive magic, and in magic in general is an inexperienced witch's tendency to overlook the obvious. Also, it is advantageous to be able to stay a step ahead of magic, and to be able to predict what might happen next. If the idea of running away does pop into your mind, your immediate next thought needs to be – what will happen if I run away? Which leads me nicely onto the main topic for this lesson. As witches, perhaps the quickest reaction in an unexpected situation is spellwork. But what is the disadvantage of spells?"

"Perhaps the bad witch could predict the spell you're going to use, Miss?" Ethel suggested, hoping that the teacher would approve of her answer.

"Exactly, Ethel. The second you begin to speak, she knows you're about to cast a spell, right? And if she's quick-thinking enough, she can guess what spell it is from the words you start to say. Then she has the advantage of being able to adapt her magic to avoid the effects of yours. So how do we avoid that?"

"Is it possible to do a silent spell, Miss?" Mildred asked quietly, looking rather thoughtful.

"Yes it is possible, Mildred, and that's the answer I was looking for – although I'd say 'non-verbal' spells. Now I know you're all probably eager to practice some actual magic, so shall we try non-verbal spells? How do we make non-verbal spells work?"

"The right feeling!" Enid called out, perhaps a little too excitedly and forgetting to even put up her hand.

"Excuse me?" said Miss Rookwood, although she couldn't help her amusement at the girl's sudden enthusiasm.

"It's like Miss Cackle says, Miss," Enid replied more calmly, "spells aren't always about the right words – it's about having the right feeling to make the spell work!"

"She's right about that," the teacher confirmed. "Verbal spells are much easier to teach and to get right. Non-verbal spells can be difficult to perform when you haven't done them before – which is why we'll be starting with something relatively simple. Take your chess piece and try to vanish it – without speaking. No whispering either, everybody! Now, concentration is the key to this task. Like Miss Cackle apparently says, the right feeling is important, but for now, you may find it helpful to imagine the words in your mind. But do not say them. Try to convert the thoughts about the words into a feeling about what you want to make happen."

* * *

"I can't believe I'd never thought about non-verbal spells before," said Mildred, "Even though Miss Hardbroom obviously uses them all the time. The other teachers, too, now that I think about it"

"That was actually really good," Enid commented to her friends as they headed towards lunch.

"Enid Nightshade, are you saying you just enjoyed a lesson?" Maud joked, grinning, "What do you make of Miss Rookwood, then?"

"She's alright," Enid said with a slightly shifty smile, "Her face when she caught Ethel and Drusilla cheating though!"

The girls burst into a fit of giggles at this comment, as they shared a feeling that the memory of the teacher's response to the appearance of a giant illuminous arrow above the cheaters' heads would never fade.

"I wonder if it was a cheat-detector spell or a whisperer-detector spell?" Layla mused, absent-mindedly twirling her wand again as she joined their conversation.

"Who cares?" said Enid, "It was hilarious"

"Oh!" Mildred suddenly gasped, "I'd better get going. HB's expecting me to bring my extra potions homework at the beginning of lunch break!"

"You'd better hurry up, then, Millie," Maud warned, "We'll see you in the courtyard later, ok?"

Mildred nodded as she turned to head towards the potions lab. Layla followed her instead of sticking with the rest of the group.

"Hey, Mildred," she said as she caught up, "Don't suppose you'd show me the library on your way?"

"What?" Mildred replied in surprise, "Oh. Can it wait ten minutes? I don't want to be too late for Miss Hardbroom with this."

"Very diligent of you, Mildred," the potions mistress surprised the girls by appearing right in front of them in the doorway to the potions lab, "Do you have something for me then, Mildred?"

"Yes, Miss Hardbroom," she replied, hurriedly retrieving the pages of handwriting from her satchel, as Layla inconspicuously hid her right hand behind her back.

"And you've completed all of the questions I set you?" Constance asked as she took the slightly-neater-than-usual pages from her student.

Mildred nodded, hopefully - and despite her growing confidence, slightly fearfully - awaiting Constance's approval as she quickly flicked through the pages.

"Good." Constance stated, handing them back to Mildred, "Go and put them on my desk and I shall mark them once I return from the staff room"

Mildred allowed herself a smile and a small sigh of relief and proceeded into the classroom to put the work on Constance's desk.

Constance, meanwhile, turned her attention to Layla, having spent a good part of her morning convincing herself that, although a punishment would probably be unadviseable, confiscation of an item, for the safety of her other students, would be perfectly acceptable, should she deem it necessary.

And she did.

"I saw that, Layla Rookwood," she stated calmly, although she felt a slight flutter of nerves, despite having confiscated students' possessions hundreds of times before, "Hand it over, please."

Layla just stared at her for a moment, not quite believing her ears.

"Hand it over. You can have it back out of school hours," Constance continued, "I have already requested that you keep it safely out of sight twice this morning, and if you choose not to comply, then it will be confiscated."

Mildred placed her work on the desk and turned, considering taking her time to walk back so as to avoid being the awkward bystander of HB telling someone off. But they were only feet away, so she hoped that Layla would quickly hand over whatever it was - probably nothing serious, knowing from Ruby's experience, her tutor's dislike of anything that might be fun.

"You can't, Miss Hardbroom," Layla protested quietly. Mildred winced slightly. No one with any sense would so blatantly disobey Miss Hardbroom.

Constance was flabbergasted.

"I most certainly can," she stated, the tone of her voice going up by at least half an octave, "How dare you not only disobey me, but have the audacity to tell me what I can or cannot do? Hand it over, immediately!"

"No." Layla backed away ever so slightly and with a fearful look in her eyes, "I can't. Please don't, Miss Hardbroom, I wasn't using it for magic, I just - "

Constance calmly reached out to take the wand.

Now not even a few steps behind her, Mildred could hardly believe what happened next.

Constance gasped sharply as a strong shock of static magic surged through her fingertips, then stinging the rest of her skin. Her hands flew to her face as the static swiftly subsided and seemed to settle as a sharp pain there.

For a moment she met eyes with Layla, who looked far more fearful than before. She gulped hard, an unpleasant metallic taste in her mouth.

Layla stared for a moment, slightly but very barely shaking her head, perhaps in horror, before she turned and ran off down the corridor.

Mildred was confused and frightened, but not as frightened as Constance.

"Miss Hardbroom?" she said softly.

* * *

**_AN:_** OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

... Cliffhanger...

_Please review!_

_I'd love to know what your thoughts are on this story!_

_Not sure if Helenna's lesson went on for a bit too long, but I got carried away and some of it seemed to write itself (don't tell my family, they already think I should have been a teacher...)_


	5. Chapter 5-

Mildred had seen nosebleeds before, mainly in PE if someone got hit in the face with a ball, but never had she seen one quite like this.

A similar thought passed through Constance's mind, too. The difference was that whereas Mildred didn't see exactly what had happened, Constance knew. This wasn't just a hit in the face; this was magic, and_ concentrated magic_ at that.

She muttered the first few reversing spells she could think of, despite knowing that they were unlikely to have much effect.

"Miss?" Mildred said again quite softly, suddenly making Constance regain an awareness of her surroundings, and her self, and how frightening this must look to a student with no idea why there was suddenly blood pouring from her teacher's face, nor why her teacher's muttered spells seemed not to be working. Constance began to feel slightly light-headed, and despite her surprise at how quickly she had started to feel dizzy, she knew that she needed help from another witch.

Part of her mind refused to accept what she knew was the best course of action, but another part fought against that.

"Mildred," she said, now noticing that the blood was in her mouth, too, "Fetch Miss Rookwood. Immediately"

Mildred nodded and quickly set off at a jog back towards her previous classroom.

But Constance then regretted the instruction she had just given and decided instead to gather her energy and transport herself magically to the safe confines of the staffroom, arriving in a somewhat messy state, much to Miss Cackle's shock.

"Help me find a strong reversing spell," she panted, reaching for the advanced and rare spellbooks that were kept on one of the high shelves.

Meanwhile, Mildred practically collided with the teacher she had been sent to find, who was apparently heading with equal speed and urgency, in the opposite direction to Mildred.

"Miss Rookwood!" she cried, "Miss Hardbroom needs you-"

"I know," Helenna replied impatiently and to Mildred's surprise, "Potions lab?"

Mildred nodded with haste, although she wasn't sure how the teacher already knew about the incident, and the pair rushed off again in the direction of the potions lab. But of course, Constance was no longer there when they arrived.

Helenna surveyed the partly-bloodstained scene with an expression of concern clearly evident.

"Where is she?" she demanded, knowing that, if it was the type of spell she suspected, then the witch wouldn't have got very far, even with magic - which she must have used, otherwise they would have met her in the corridor.

"I don't - she was right here a moment ago, she asked me to get you," Mildred replied, beginning to panic slightly, "It looked really bad, I -"

For the first time since arriving at the school, Helenna reached up and pulled the wand from the low bun in her hair, hoping that with it, she would be able to pick up a trace of Miss Hardbroom's magic.

"I'm scared, Miss," Mildred admitted, in a barely audible voice, "Why isn't she here?"

Helenna remained silent for a few moments until she felt a sensation rather like the pull of a magnet to metal, which prompted a brief sigh.

"Don't worry, Mildred," she whispered, "I've got this," and with that, she disappeared.

* * *

Reappearing less than a second later in the exact spot Constance had appeared in the staff room, Helenna looked around to see Miss Cackle frantically rifling through a huge spellbook, whilst Miss Drill appeared to be pinching Miss Hardbroom's nose with considerable force.

"Will you kindly let go of me?" Constance said thickly, "This is magical, Miss Drill, that won't work!"

"Miss Rookwood!" Amelia exclaimed when she noticed the wand witch's presence, "Quickly, what reversing spells do you know? What might we have forgotten?"

"I know lots of reversing spells," she replied quickly, but with an air of forced calmness, "But you don't need them. The simplest will do,"

"Don't you think I've tried that?" snapped Constance, although the effect of her tone was not as great as it would ordinarily have been.

"It's concentrated magic, isn't it?" Helenna sighed, "You need a simple reversing spell, but it has to be a_ concentrated_ simple reversing spell!"

Constance could have been on the verge of tears as she caught sight of the witch's wand...in her hand rather than where it usually was kept.

"I can do it," Helenna said as she approached the rest of the staff, "I can reverse the spell"

Constance shook her head so violently that droplets of blood were projected onto the table and on Miss Cackle's spellbooks.

"No." she stated firmly, "You stay away from me."

"You do it, then," Helenna suggested, hesitating slightly before offering her wand to the obviously-suffering witch.

Constance looked at it with a feeling of hope that was almost immediately replaced by terror. She couldn't take the wand. It was not hers to use, and Helenna was an experienced witch. Constance knew that there could be dangerous consequences far worse than any Foster's Effect, if a witch should wield a wand that did not match her experience, even if it was going to be just a simple spell.

_...The wand learns from the witch and the witch learns from the wand..._

And even if that weren't true, she didn't particularly want to take the wand anyway. Hadn't that been the very action that had landed her in this mess in the first place?

She shook her head, much more subtly this time, barely voicing the words, "I can't."

"Look at yourself!" Helenna retaliated sharply, with a somehow clear look of intermingled exasperation, frustration and compassion, "You know how powerful concentrated magic is? That spell? You could die, Constance Hardbroom. You could die right here and in not much time at all, if you do not trust me to help you!"

The other teachers stopped and stared, frozen in a sudden moment of realisation of the frighteningly severe reality of the situation.

Constance saw truth in Helenna's words, but struggled to see past the wand, to the witch.

Helenna edged even closer, almost touching distance.

"Trust me," she said softly.

If there weren't so much blood in Constance's mouth, she might've whimpered slightly. She could see every detail of Helenna's unblinking eyes. Even in normal circumstances, this would have been too close for comfort. Breathing much harder than she had in a very long time, she shut her own eyes tightly and nodded - barely noticeably.

She felt a shiver alongside the feeling of a hand lifting her chin slightly, but she kept her eyes tightly closed, knowing for herself that she did not want to see what might happen.

"Hold still," she heard Helenna whisper, and then she felt - or imagined - the intense proximity of wand magic.

* * *

_AN:__...That. Was tricky to write!_

_Sorry but I'm not sorry - it's Mr A. R. G. H. Cliffhanger again!_

_Please, write me some reviews, please, I need them after that!_

_:)_

_x_


	6. Chapter 6-

She felt someone's hand take her arm as she lost her balance. The bleeding had stopped but the taste remained strongly in her mouth. Feeling incredibly dizzy and faint, she couldn't even pinpoint that the reason could have been one of many - the stress induced by the proximity of a wand witch; the fear inspired by concentrated wand magic; the amount of blood lost as a result of the young girl's spell; not having had any lunch yet - perhaps even all of those reasons together.

"Why don't you sit down?" she heard someone say, but it wasn't clear whose voice that was.

Slowly opening her eyes, she wished she hadn't, for everyone else in the room had at least a touch of that detestable sympathetic expression.

Constance sat carefully into one of the chairs, resting her heavy arms on the somewhat spattered tablecloth. She blinked a couple of times and rubbed the skin below her eyes, noticing then that, although she wasn't bleeding anymore, she was still very much bloodstained. Glancing down at her chest, she could only think of how glad she was to be a witch, and not have to wash that dress by hand.

Amelia and Helenna sat down too, at either side of Constance, each wondering whether she would appreciate it should they offer to magically clean her up a bit. But although the spell had physically harmed Constance, her magic was completely unaffected, and she decided to clean up herself, but ignored the tablecloth and the floor for the time being. She noticed that Helenna had slipped the wand back into her hair, and as she hadn't seen her do it, she assumed she must have put it there incredibly quickly before Constance had dared to look at her again.

"Glass of water, Constance," Imogen said quietly, placing a freshly poured glass on the table and sitting down, also. Constance gave a small smile of gratitude and took a few slow sips of the water, glad to be getting rid of that taste from her mouth.

"How do you feel, now?" Amelia asked gently.

Constance took remained quiet for a minute before answering, while she set the glass back down on the table.

"I'm alright," she said, attempting to sound more confident than she felt, "I think I just need to sit down for a few moments."

Just then they were interrupted by an urgent-sounding knock at the door. Before anyone had a chance to even consider opening it, it flung open to reveal a rather stressed-looking Mildred Hubble. The first thought to cross Constance's mind was to scold the girl for walking into the staff room without waiting for permission, but she quickly remembered what had happened and decided against saying anything.

"Miss Cackle! I-" she began, before noticing that Miss Hardbroom and Miss Rookwood were also sitting there at the table, "Oh, there you are! I was quite worried," she added, now beginning to look more relieved than anything else, to see that her teacher was looking much more normal now, despite the messy tablecloth and floor.

"Mildred," Miss Cackle frowned in her direction, "Are you about to tell me that _you_ had something to do with this? Even for you, this is absolutely the worst-"

"It was not Mildred," Constance interrupted her superior quietly but firmly, uncannily at the exact same moment that Mildred opened her mouth - presumably to say something along the lines of 'It wasn't me, Miss'.

"Is that true, Mildred?" the headmistress asked.

"Yes, Miss," Mildred replied politely, "I was there, but I didn't do it. I went to fetch help, but Miss Hardbroom had gone when we got back. And then Miss Rookwood disappeared too, and I waited for a while but I didn't know what to do when they didn't come back and that's when I thought I should come and tell you, Miss Cackle."

The girl always had good intentions, and this time her actions were commendable too. Amelia gave her a warm smile, unsure what she should say next, considering she had almost accused the girl of something terrible.

"Are you alright now, Miss Hardbroom?" Mildred asked tentatively, twiddling the end of one of her plaits.

"Perfectly fine," Constance replied, although it was not completely true, but the girl had seen too much vulnerability already, "Thank you for your concern, Mildred. I expect your friends will be wondering where you are by now, so I suggest that you go and get yourself some lunch quickly, and get ready in time to join them for cross country this afternoon."

"Yes, Miss Hardbroom," Mildred nodded, before turning back to the door.

"And Mildred?" Constance added, continuing as the girl turned back to face her, "I would prefer if this didn't become common knowledge."

"Of course, Miss Hardbroom," Mildred respectfully reassured her that she was not about to spark off any rumours about what had happened.

"Good. I'll see you later then, at your usual Monday evening extra potions lesson."

Mildred smiled and nodded, then headed off for some well-deserved lunch.

Amelia turned back to the table to face the others once again.

"Well," she sighed, "Mildred is evidently in the clear...so what _did_ happen, Constance?"

"I - it may have been partly my fault, Miss Cackle," she admitted, trying to think properly about the incident but still in a somewhat dazed state, "Layla - we need to talk about Layla, Helenna, you and I"

"She told me what happened," Helenna said, "and yes, I think the three of us should talk about it"

Miss Drill scowled, feeling that she may be about to be excluded from this particular conversation, for being a non-witch often led to it being assumed that she couldn't understand matters of magic.

"Layla, myself, and you, Constance," Helenna clarified, "and then we can decide what needs to be said and done"

As if it had decided that this was as convenient a time as any, the magic bell rang itself to signal the end of lunch break, and the start of both cross country and music practice.

"I suppose I'd better get going," Imogen sighed, unusually unenthusiastic for an afternoon's running.

"Yes, me too," Amelia added, "I did say I'd help Lavinia with the chairs in the hall before music practice. Will you be alright, Constance?"

Constance nodded in reply, realising that she would have to face the girl who she had come to think of as her attacker, at what could be any moment. It felt too soon. Ordinarily, she wasn't one to fret too much about tasks like this, but she had to admit, if only to herself, that the prospect of being alone with both wand witches at the same time was worrying.

"I suppose I'd better give it a quick spruce-up in here, first," Helenna suggested, waving a hand around the room to clean it with magic, "And the potions lab - maybe we could make Layla do that later?"

Constance was much more comfortable with that magic than she was with wand magic.

"Where is Layla?" she asked after being quiet for quite some time.

"Classroom I used this morning," Helenna replied, "I told her to wait there until I went back."

"How do you know that she's still there?" Constance asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I know." Helenna stated with conviction as she magicked a heavy spellbook back up to its shelf.

Constance was in two minds again, this time because although Helenna seemed genuinely annoyed with her niece, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to try to scapegoat her out of trouble.

"Do you want to rest for a while first, or shall we go and talk to her now?" Helenna asked, straightening out the tablecloth a little.

Constance hesitated for a moment, but she reasoned that if Helenna _was_ going to try getting her niece out of trouble, she was not going to give them conspiration time.

"Let's go and get it over with," she said decisively. Another great wave of dizziness met her as she rose to her feet, but she ploughed through it, determined not to let anything win over her.

Helenna walked on her left as they headed along the corridor, and she began to hum a catchy snippet of a tune they heard emanating from the music practice room.

Without warning, Constance suddenly reached out and grabbed her elbow as yet another - this time much worse - dizzy spell took hold. She didn't know whether she really was suddenly too hot or not, her knees felt weak, everything before her swam in her field of vision and she could hear her heartbeat thumping in her ears. Feeling herself begin to lose balance, and no longer caring who it was that she was reaching out to, she grabbed at Helenna's cloak with her other hand, too.

"Woah," Constance heard the witch say as she tried to support her despite her desperately flailing, grasping hands, "Alright."

Helenna managed to hook an arm under Constance's as the witch really began to stumble. Practically holding her upright, she looked around, spotting a bench in the courtyard not too far away. The witch was not particularly heavy, but she was much taller than Helenna, and her semi-conscious form was incredibly awkward to half-carry.

"Here," she panted, guiding her to the bench, "Sit."

With difficulty, Helenna tried to sit down too, although the surprisingly strong and continued grip of Constance's right hand on her left wrist made her position quite awkward - but at least that reassured her that the witch had not fully lost consciousness.

Constance did not release her grip. She didn't exactly feel that slumping into the arms of a wand witch was the safest and most comforting thing to have done, but even in a dazed state she knew that she'd probably have felt a whole lot worse had she been alone and fallen onto the cold, hard floor.

* * *

_**AN:** Hopefully there aren't any typos, I've proof-read but I did have real trouble with those tonight. Apparently a courtyard has been renamed a "cotyarf"_

_I've got quite into this fic - orinigally it was going to be quite short but support from you guys (and a fair bit of spare time) has been inspiring!_

_:) As usual, please do review! :)_


	7. Chapter 7-

Constance remained silent for a while, sitting with her eyes closed and her right hand firmly grasping something. Beside her sat Helenna, whom she felt was far too close, yet she didn't feel particularly able to move away just yet. The fuzz that had temporarily taken over her brain began to clear as she continued to pay attention to breathing deeply. Eventually she realised that the warm area upon which she had been resting could only possibly be Helenna's shoulder and she quickly became uncomfortable at the thought, and shuffled away from her.

"Sorry," she muttered, before noticing that she still had a tight grip on the wand witch's wrist and letting go sharply. She saw blood flow quickly return to the slightly-paled wrist and was even surprised herself that someone feeling so weak could exert such a strong grip. Helena must have been glad of the release, although she didn't show it if she was.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I don't know what came over me,"

"It's alright," Helenna replied, lightly patting Constance's shoulder and pretending not to notice when she flinched slightly, "I suppose you're bound to get a bit light headed after -"

"Thinking back it probably was quite a large amount of blood," Constance interrupted.

"Yeah," Helenna agreed musingly, "I thought about suggesting a blood-replenishing potion but, well, I know it takes _hours_ to brew so it'd be unlikely to be on any use. Unless you had any stored."

Constance thought for a moment, perhaps running a version of an potions-storecupboard-inventory through her mind.

"I think there is a bottle, actually. It's old, though. I'm not sure that I'd be willing to risk that kind of magic without knowing for certain what happens if the potion has been left. Time can do funny things to potions."

She looked at Helenna almost with a silent 'what do you think?', as if part of her expected a solid contribution to her decision-making - but Helenna shrugged.

"I don't know," she said simply, "I'd go with your judgement on this. You're the potioneer, after all. How old is it?"

"Very," Constance replied, "I didn't even brew it myself - I never needed to. I believe it was included in some promotion from Hags and Horrocks...back when they produced those sample potions boxes - as if they thought that potions teachers would ever consider buying their students potions as well as ingredients."

"That was a _really_ long time ago," Helenna remarked, "I remember it being in the news because they lost a lot money on the promotions and Horrocks was threatening to sell up if they didn't immediately switch back to selling only ingredients. But that has to be at least ten years ago..."

"Yes," Constance agreed, "Perhaps it's time to get rid of that box of potions. Who knows what quality they were of even to begin with?"

"Yeah. Looks like you'll just have to stick to the good old-fashioned method of taking things easy for the rest of the day!" Helena chuckled as the potions mistress nodded in agreement, "I'm really sorry that this happened," she continued, "Especially to you. I know you weren't that keen on the idea of us being here in the first place."

Constance wondered how she had known, but quickly considered the possibility that she had perhaps not been particularly subtle with her disapproval of the disruption...nor with her apparently justifiable feelings about wand magic.

"This tutor of yours..." Helenna began slowly, just noticeably biting her bottom lip, "I take it that 'special' occasions didn't mean 'good' occasions?"

Constance was mortified. That was an unexpected comment to say the least, and rather too unprofessional. Far too personal. Far too_ painful._

"We still need to speak to Layla," Constance stated calmly, yet with a touch of evasiveness, "I'll be alright to go now,"

"Ok," Helenna agreed and held out her hand, "Go by magic?" she suggested, kindly. But Constance simply shook her head and didn't take her hand.

"It's not far now, just around this corner, look," she said, getting up from the bench.

* * *

"At my school there's specific lessons for things like...well we have lessons for regulation and wandlore and that," Layla's tone was somewhat flatter that it previously had been. She pinched at both her hands above her lap, her wand lying just beneath them. Other than that she barely moved but to speak and occasionally risk a moment's eye contact with the teachers sitting opposite her in the semicircle of chairs that had been left from the lesson.

"In first year I had Regulation lessons. Everyone has to have them before they're allowed to have their wand all the time," she continued.

Constance glanced at Helenna, slightly irritated that she had not had much chance to speak yet, and unable to help wondering what the relevance of this information was.

"To try and minimise accidental magic," Helenna stated, rather missing the point of Constance's enquiring look, "Inexperience and unregulated emotion _and_ concentrated magic, I can only imagine."

"Yeah," Layla agreed, "And it teaches you a sort of respect for the magic, I guess, like... I think it's important that people realise what their powers can do. Especially when it reacts instinctively, I mean. So in Regulation, they teach us how to separate what we feel away from our magic. And it goes on for ages, too, but I guess it needs to because," she paused, whether for a dramatic effect or as a result of a renewed realisation of what had happened, "because of...things that...because we're going to have wands and concentrated magic and because of the things that can happen."

She trailed off, leaving Constance with mixed feelings. Earlier the girl had used charm and politeness to get out of trouble. Now she seemed to have a different tactic. Was she expected to believe that somehow there had been a lapse in a system that had been described as so rigorous and well-planned? That this - accident - was not the girl's fault and that she had somehow slipped through and managed to gain possession of this, for want of a better word, weapon that she could not control? Surely not. She waited for Helenna to challenge her niece's ramblings, but she did no such thing.

"You can't get certified for your wand until you prove that you can handle it," Layla continued, "But I was quite good at it. Most of the time anyway. There's just one little aspect that since then I've realised that I have a problem with...fear. You know how that is, don't you, Miss?"

She made eye-contact with Constance, directly, this time, and for a substantial amount of time, too. Constance did not immediately understand the reference, but it seemed that Helenna did.

"Layla's always had a bit of a problem with fear," she explained, "Of course, it initially hid itself as an extraordinary ability to be unaffected by fear. But as it transpires, the training she had with her Regulation tutor didn't actually tap into fear because she didn't get scared like the other kids. Not even the dark. Anyway, it eventually was picked up on so there's been extra training...but how do you train someone who isn't afraid of anything?"

"I am scared of something," Layla then admitted, "I was scared today...and I think that's why I did...what I - "

"But," Constance interrupted, casting her mind back over the situation, "Why on earth were you frightened?"

Layla hesitated, glancing between the two teachers as though unsure what to say.

"You were going to take my wand," she eventually mumbled.

"Why were you - what? Why?" Helenna puzzled, gaping at Constance in disbelief.

"I realise that it perhaps wasn't the wisest move," she admitted.

"You wouldn't even take mine when your life could have depended on it!" Helena said incredulously, "Why would you want Layla's?"

"I didn't - not like that, anyway," Constance hurriedly explained, "I'd asked her to put it away but she seemed incapable of leaving it there and I - I just did what I would have done with any other student. I intended to confiscate it for the day."

"And then what?" Helenna asked, but was drowned out by Layla's voice.

"You can't just take a witch's wand!" Layla protested, "And absolutely not without some sign of sincerity and she didn't have anything to give me in return - how was I to know that she'd ever give it back? Or what she really wanted it for? I don't know what she is!"

Constance was shocked to be spoken about in that manner, especially considering that she was in the room - and visible.

"And I can quite honestly say that even the idea of that terrifies me," she continued, "And when she tried to take it I just - I lost it. I didn't mean to, really I didn't. That made me even more scared and that's why I ran. Not to get away from you, Miss Hardbroom - to get you, Aunt Helenna, because I knew it was bad and I - yeah."

"Is that true? Layla ran for help?" Constance asked, looking to Helenna, who nodded, "Well that's something, I suppose. Nevertheless - "

"Nevertheless," Helenna interrupted, earning herself a sharp glare, "Layla, Miss Hardbroom is a good witch, and you have no reason to believe otherwise. But she isn't a wand witch, which means that you should do what?"

"Consider that she doesn't know the traditions associated with concentrated magic," Layla responded dutifully.

"Miss Hardbroom, you really shouldn't have tried to take the wand, yet it's reasonable to assume that you were unaware of the consequences," Helenna said.

Constance was absolutely outraged as Helenna seemed to be pinning the blame for this on her.

"But Layla," she continued, "It is your responsibility as a wielder of concentrated magic, to protect those who potentially have less knowledge about this particular area of magic - just as it would be Miss Hardbroom's responsibility to protect you in the event of say, a dangerous potions situation. You will copy out the Statute of the Responsibilities of the Concentrated Magic Wielder, and a 2000-word essay on how this specific situation might have been handled better from your perspective." She glanced at Constance before adding, "Might as well make it a teaching opportunity - seeing as that's why we're all here."

Constance was glad that it had been turned around somewhat, but was still unsure whether it was enough for her to be pleased.

"And," Helenna continued, "You will clean the potions lab - without your wand, but you may use non-wand-magic because...it is pretty dismal in there. If Miss Hardbroom is agreeable, I think you should also help her to clear out the potions store cupboard while you're there. It might be beneficial for both of you."

Constance nodded in agreement, although still feeling slightly dubious about spending more time alone with Layla. She felt as though she would be treading on eggshells around the girl for the rest of the week. If it didn't confuse her a little, Helenna's next move might have reassured her immensely.

"And not forgetting Miss Hardbroom's confiscation," she took her wand from the bun in her hair and held it in front of her, simultaneously extending her other hand. Layla blinked and nodded, picking up her wand from her lap, placed it in her aunt's hand, and took the wand she offered. "Just for this week," Helenna said, tucking Layla's wand into her hair, "Until you can go through this with your Regulation tutor. Now go and get started on the potions lab."

Layla quickly obeyed and scurried out of the room, while Constance looked aghast.

"How does giving her a wand with _more_ power and experience help in the slightest?" she managed to say eventually.

"It won't work for her," Helenna said smugly, "Not without my permission, anyway. It's extremely well trained."

* * *

Constance glanced nervously at the clock every few minutes during Mildred's two-hours of extra potions that evening, knowing that Layla would be back to help with the store cupboard shortly after Mildred left. Fortunately Mildred caused no disastrous spillages and completed her work leaving the lab in it's newly renewed clean state. To give the girls credit, Layla had somehow managed to get the room to look cleaner than it had in a long time...and the already-clean surroundings seemed to have a positive effect on Mildred's carefulness. Constance smiled inwardly, admitting this observation only to herself as she dismissed Mildred and offered to tidy away her cauldron.

Layla tapped on the glass pane in the door as she entered somewhat cautiously, several sheets of paper in her hand.

"Is that your essay for Miss Rookwood?" she enquired, tipping the washed cauldron upside-down in the sink.

"No," came the reply, "I left that upstairs - I've still got to do the copying out before I give it to her. This is for you."

"For me?" Constance questioned, walking away from the sink to take the papers. She stopped short with her hand outstretched, as though something had made her decide not to take them directly.

Layla recognised this and placed them on the desk between them instead, for the potions mistress to pick up.

"I wrote two," she said, "I thought you might like to read one. In case you ever meet a slightly-disobedient wand witch again, I guess."

Constance couldn't help but admire the girl's dedication. To write an essay in the latter part of an afternoon and early evening was quite an achievement, but to write it twice...she picked up the essay and gave it a fleeting scan, picking up no sense that it was a magic copy, or indeed had been copied by magic. She really had written it out in double. No matter what she may have thought of Helenna Rookwood's seemingly scapegoating and soft style earlier, she had to admit that the witch really did know how to teach someone a lesson. She was intrigued, and felt a slight honour to be able to read about a branch of magic that was usually kept so secretive.

"Thank you, Layla," she said quietly, before remembering what she was supposed to be doing, "Let's make a start on that cupboard then, shall we?"

Layla nodded and picked up the recycling box that Constance had placed on a nearby desk presumably for this very purpose.

"I am sorry, Miss Harbroom," she said again, "I was meant to show you that wand witches aren't all that bad and...well, I didn't really manage that did I?"

Wondering what exactly the girl meant by that, Constance shook her head seriously as she passed over some empty bottles for Layla to stack in the box.

"Well they're not," Layla said with a smile, "Not all of them, anyway."

* * *

**AN:** _And that's all, folks! Sad to be ending it, but that's the story completed I think! :)_

_It's been hard to write but also perhaps one of my favourites. Considered doing a sequel but zero ideas on that front so don't get any hopes up yet. :P_

_Please review x_

_P.S. Tomorrow might be difficult because I unintentionally stayed up an extra 2 and a half hours writing this..._

_...so really, please do leave reviews :D_


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